Have you had your cat's thyroid levels checked? It's very common for older cats to have thyroid issues. I *think* that they are most often hyperthyroid and lose weight, like my cat, but I don't see why yours might have the opposite problem. What kind of food are you feeding? Hypothyroidism can be worsened by a lack of iodine, which cats get from seafood - are you feeding your cat any fish food? Good luck, OP!

For our overweight cat, the vet recommended dry food. She has access for 10 minutes, then put the food away until the next feeding (morning or night).

Easy. Cut out the grazing. Feed it less. You're a human and dominate its world. This should not be hard.

Anonymous wrote:No grazing and feed them separately.

Grazing can only be allowed for pets with good portion control.

This. Plus, give the obese cat only wet food and choose one with little to no ***carbs***, vs no grain. "No grain" foods still contain a whole bunch of potatoes, peas, carrots, etc. in most (not all) brands.

I like Weruva for my teetering-on-obese pet. He's a fatty bc he can't exercise due to injury. Your geriatric cat has a similar equation going on, so every calorie counts.

Ditch the grazing!!! And try to give up the low cost and convenience of dry if at all possible.

Anonymous wrote:My vet recommended no grazing. Just feed them twice a day. You can also feed them separately.

Do you have to have the cat de-voiced, first? Because if I took my cat's food away, he would come find me about three times an hour to yell at me about his empty bowl. And then I would kill him. And then his weight wouldn't be a problem any more.

Ha!

Let us know when you figure this one out.

Play with them. They eat too much because they're bored. Try getting a new cat tower or ways for them to move vertically.

wet food only. no dry, which is all carbs and cats don't eat a carb diet in the wild. when we dropped dry, our cats all leaned out. they now graze all day on wet whenever they want (and play a lot with each other, and run up and down our 3-story townhouse all day long) and they're all a slim 9-10 lbs. every time we go to the vet, she compliments us on maintaining a healthy weight for them all. we even add water to the wet food; they like that.

No grazing and feed them separately.

Grazing can only be allowed for pets with good portion control.

grazing only works if your pet doesn't have food issues and is able to self-regulate well

Anonymous wrote:My vet recommended no grazing. Just feed them twice a day. You can also feed them separately.

I agree--take away the dry food and do not allow all day grazing.

A 17 year old cat should still be interested in playing. She sounds like she's overeating because she is bored. Get her some new toys and play with her. I've found that my cats are not very interested in toys from the pet store, so I stick brightly colored feathers to ping pong balls and my cats love to chase them.

My kitties love to play with anything stringy. Perhaps take a 1/2 hr per day dedicated to playing with your cats. My cats love my little laser light....I turn off the lights and they love to chase the light. They also like it when I blow bubbles through my mouth or a fan, etc.

Good luck.

My vet recommended no grazing. Just feed them twice a day. You can also feed them separately.

We have 2 cats, one normal weight feline, and one obese feline (17 pounds, should be 10 pounds).

With 2 cats it's harder to get one to lose weight re: feeding since the other one is normal weight.

We have been taking away the dry food after 9 pm, and not putting it back out until 9 am. Otherwise, they can graze all day on dry, which is what we have always done. We also give them 1/2 a wet food can each in the morning--the organic wet cat foods. Their dry food is 100% protein, no carbs (organic dry cat food).

The 17 pound cat is not very active and is also a senior cat. She is not very interested in playing.

Any advice on weight loss tips?